It is only the beginning of September, and there is still a long way to go in the league title race, but make no mistake, Celtic inflicted such a massive psychological blow on our rivals yesterday that they simply may not recover from in the league.
Seeing those Rangers players walk off the pitch yesterday after their 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic to send the hoops five points clear at the top of the league, you cannot convince me that those players feel they can still reclaim this league title.
They know we are simply too good.
They know there is a very small chance of us slipping up and dropping points in our other domestic games this season after the way we have started this campaign.
And if we did slip up? They know that they themselves aren’t going to remain perfect against the other teams in the division and even if they did, we would be favourites to take another three points off them in our upcoming head to head matches.
They face Aberdeen at Pittodrie in an early kick off on Saturday afternoon after a trip to Amsterdam to play Ajax in the Champions League on Wednesday night. Would anyone be surprised to see them drops more points up in Aberdeen which is an historically hard place for them to go? I certainly wouldn’t be. In fact, I kind of expect them to drop points there.
You only need to look back at our 3-0 drubbing of them back in February at Celtic Park. That was the turning point.
Even when they took an early lead in the next game against us at Ibrox, they couldn’t even hold that lead for longer than three minutes. Why? Because they knew mentally we were going to come back ad beat them and that’s what happened. They simply had no belief.
They were able to do well in Europe and Cup competitions because it was easier for them mentally.
In the cup against us they had a fresh start, it was a one off fixture in a neutral venue, they didn’t have the psychological burden of a long hard league slog to contend with in their minds. They had a fresh outlook and with help from their old pal Bobby Madden, were able to eventually get through after extra time.
Also, I wouldn’t be surprised if they went to Ajax and played well and got a result. But it won’t mean a damn thing as far as the league race is concerned.
Again, it’s a whole different outlook for them, they don’t have to worry about the domestic league table and fighting against Celtic over a long period of time when they are playing in Europe. They do well because they have no pressure on their shoulders. None.
Of course this league is not over, there is still a long way to go, but I believe in the minds of the Rangers players, it is over.
Agree 100%…for all the mistakes they made,I believe they Know there’s just no answers in them with us in this form.
Bar blatantly kicking us off the park, of course. Although we’re not quite there yet,and we ARE far better than THEM, it’s fast becoming a case of us being a different class altogether.
That’s a lot different to simply being better.